Praia da Vitoria

This area of the island is beautiful as all the rest.  We took the opportunity to hike around a bit (I know shocking, huh?).  We hiked down to the beaches.  Here because the island is made of lava rock the beaches are black - pure black with a little red.  The sand isn't as soft as traditional sand we're used to.  The only sand (white, tan sand) beaches on the island are man-made.  Being a island there is ample coastline but much of it is sheer cliffs or large lava rocks.   You can get into the ocean at the lava rock areas but you have to have a plan for getting out as the waves are almost always smashing against the rocks.  You don't want to included in that for sure!

We really did hike around. 

 More interesting buildings in the Praia da Vitoria area.  This first building appeared to be a little cottage.  I thought it was quaint.  So tiny.  The second building is another of those colorful churches.

Matt was in heaven because they have a beautiful golf course on the island.  You pay for 18 holes whether you do all 18 or not.  The cost was 30 € which included the trolley (which we call a hand cart).  Very reasonably priced we thought.  To get a cart, or in their terms a buggy, it was an additional 40 €.  Ouch!  Matt elected to just hit a bucket of balls today (only 4 €) and the possibly come back tomorrow.  

After golfing we headed to the Algar do Carvao (a volcano that you can climb down inside).  It was really cool.  It was also much more moist than I would have guessed.

This is just outside the entrance.  You can tell we are in a caldera. 

Going down the tunnel to the volcano opening. 

The stairs leading to the bottom. 

Some of the rich green growth along the sides of the volcano.

This growth was all along the handrails as you descended. 

Looking up to the opening.

I'm sure if I were more schooled in geology I'd know what all these colors indicated. 

After the volcano we headed over to the lava flows or Gruta de Natal or Christmas gives.  These are underground caves created when the lava was flowing.  The are quite deep and have much larger openings than you might guess.  We started off with hard hats which I learned to appreciate after hitting my head about a dozen times.

Heading into the cave.  Trying to be calm and not let
my claustrophobia get the best of me. 

Some of the lava dried with the worm like variations.  

Some areas were tighter than others.

Hard to see but this is a little plant trying to grow deep in the cave. 

I'm glad we went in the lava caves but was also glad when they were over.  They were interesting but I don't think I'd do it again.  A little too stressful for me. 

Directly across from the lava caves is this beautiful scene: tall trees, grassy meadow, small lake.  Such a difference from what we had just seen. 

After the lava flows the final stop we wanted to make was an area called Furnas do Enxofre.  This is an area on the island where volcanic gases are released.  It was very interesting, reminded me a little bit of Old Faithful but on a much smaller scale. 

All around this area was these really nice trails with fence on both sides to keep everyone in the safe area and not have any chance of falling in to the gassy areas.  As I was going around I thought this would make a great Eagle project.  When I got to the halfway point there was sign there thanking all the organizations that had helped build the park.  One of them was the Scouts.  I tried and tried to find a local organization to get a patch but wasn't successful.  Darn!

It was a great day.  We got to see so many beautiful areas.  How does one place have so many?